Gary Lineker

England's golden boot winner and Match of the Day legend

He earned 80 caps and scored 48 goals for England over an eight-year international career.^[1] Throughout his entire professional playing career, Lineker was never cautioned with a yellow card nor dismissed with a red card.^[2]

Quick Facts

Birth name: Gary Winston Lineker
Born: 30 November 1960
Birthplace: Leicester, England
Height: 1.77 m / 5 ft 10 in
Position: Striker
Total caps: 461
Total goals: 238

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

In the 1985 close season, Everton signed Lineker for £800,000.^[3] He scored 40 goals in 57 games for Everton in the 1985–86 season.^[3] He scored a hat-trick in a 3–2 win over archrivals Real Madrid during his first season at Barcelona.^[4] Lineker accepted a two-year contract from Nagoya Grampus Eight in November 1991.^[5]

He announced his retirement from playing in September 1994.^[6] Lineker's early education began at Caldecote Road School (Caldecote Juniors) in Braunstone, Leicester, followed by attendance at the City of Leicester Boys' Grammar School on Downing Drive in Evington.^[7][8] Upon leaving school, Lineker had achieved four O Levels.^[9] Barcelona paid £2.8 million to secure Lineker's transfer.^[10]

For a fee of £1.1 million, Lineker moved to Tottenham Hotspur in July 1989.^[11] Tottenham Hotspur defeated Nottingham Forest 2–1 in the 1991 FA Cup final, giving Lineker his first English trophy.^[12]

What the cited sources add

The Independent interview states that Lineker passed the 11-plus and thought the exam was really easy.^[13] He was captain of the Leicestershire Schools cricket team from ages 11 to 16.^[13] A BBC News article notes that Aylestone Park Football Club, which has Lineker as its president, was set to benefit from a £11m investment.^[14] The Liverpool Echo reports that Lineker won the golden boot in 1986 and was never booked throughout his career.^[15]

The same source states that Lineker is second top England goalscorer of all time with 48 goals in 80 matches.^[15] A BBC News article from 2024 says Lineker was the 1986 World Cup Golden Boot winner and top goal-scorer in England three times with different clubs.^[16] Lineker himself described his initial broadcasting efforts as "fairly appalling" during a 2021 interview on BBC Radio 4's Media Show.^[16]

References

Wikipedia, "Gary Lineker" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "englandstats.com 1207 Harry Kane (2015 - 2021)"; "England national football team statistics and records: top scorers", 11v11.com (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Gary Lineker" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Dart, "Multi-talented footballers", The Guardian, 10 August 2005; Davies, "The 16 best players never to win a league title", FourFourTwo, 21 November 2018 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Gary Lineker" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Match of Their Day: Phil Neville picks his classic games", BBC Sport, 10 May 2020 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Gary Lineker" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Gary Lineker", Talk Football (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Gary Lineker" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The Times and The Sunday Times Archive", Newsint-archive.co.uk, February 2018; "Jack Walker", The Daily Telegraph, 19 August 2000 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Gary Lineker" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Lineker: broken right toe", 5 November 1993 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Gary Lineker" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Caldecote Primary", Caldecote.leicester.sch.uk (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Gary Lineker" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Passed/Failed: An education in the life of Gary Lineker", The Independent, 4 March 2010; "6-02", 19 November 1998; "Grass-roots football gets £11m", BBC News, 10 March 2009 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Gary Lineker" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Passed/Failed: An education in the life of Gary Lineker", The Independent, 4 March 2010 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Gary Lineker" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Núñez, Maradona and Venables: the Barcelona years", 12 January 2016; Prentice, "Gary Lineker, Everton and the inside story of his £2.8m move", Liverpool Echo, 26 March 2020; "English football clubs banned from Europe June 2, 1985", History, 16 November 2009; Ap, "English Soccer Clubs Are Banned From European Play Indefinitely", The New York Times, 1985-06-03; "European Football Union Bans English Soccer Teams", Washington Post, 2024-02-25 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Gary Lineker" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Gary Lineker: I almost joined Manchester United – but then Spurs pulled it off", FourFourTwo, 20 November 2015 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Gary Lineker" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "E.ON Great Saves No.6: Mark Crossley", Mirror Football (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
"Passed/Failed: An education in the life of Gary Lineker", The Independent, 4 March 2010. facts only, no text reused. independent.co.uk
"Grass-roots football gets £11m", BBC News, 10 March 2009. facts only, no text reused. news.bbc.co.uk
"Gary Lineker: Everton were the best team I ever played for", Liverpool Echo, 11 December 2008. facts only, no text reused. liverpoolecho.co.uk
"Gary Lineker: How he went from football sensation to BBC star", BBC News, 2024-11-11. facts only, no text reused. bbc.co.uk

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Gary Lineker (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.